Last week’s key number to watch was inflation which surprised on the upside – higher inflation should lead to higher interest rates but the FED might let inflation run a bit in order not to hit the brakes too hard. However, the markets didn’t react, everybody was buying the dip as the salespeople—sorry big banks—came out with statements that it’s all fine. More →

I’ll explain how the key hedge for the retail investor is the cash component.

Further, we’ll discuss how much cash one should have now, and there is a method. In the end, it depends on one’s age.

Forget about options and derivatives as they are extremely sophisticated strategies for retail investors.

Introduction

Volatility has really spiked in the last few weeks and the stock market is in correction territory. The main question everybody would like to know the answer to is whether this slump will continue.

Of course, even if fundamental indicators have been showing the market is overvalued for quite a while now, you can’t precisely know what will happen. However, the market isn’t risky because of volatility, it’s risky due to extremely high valuations and rising interest rates. More →

I’ll tell you exactly what you need to know to make investing decisions now.

The key things to watch are yields, both from stocks and Treasuries.

No matter where you are, the long term picture makes decision making pretty easy.

Introduction

Stocks were down 5% at the beginning of last week which is good news for all of us who keep adding money to our portfolios. It’s not such good news for those who need to sell stocks or need money soon. More →

Investing is personal and should be more about sleeping well at night than returns.

I hope you sleep well at night because you are well prepared for what might happen and not because you don’t know the risks.

Unfortunately, sleeping well will always come at a short term cost but I think it’s well worth it.

Introduction

Two and a half years ago, I took out a mortgage with a fixed interest rate (3.55%) even though my friend from the Dutch National Bank was telling me to take the lower variable interest rate (2.5%) because the probability that interest rates would rise was very small and I could always change the variable rate to a fixed rate if necessary. More →

Today, we’ll discuss how the “too big to fail” concept has evolved since it was first used back in 1984.

The U.S. stock market to pension funds relation shows that even the stock market is simply too big to fail.

In Europe, the situation is even worse. Everything there is too big to fail, from countries to corporations to junk bonds.

Introduction

“Too big to fail” is a concept that you probably recognize from the 2009 financial crisis when many corporations, particularly financial institutions, were considered too big to fail due to the negative impact their demise would have on the whole economic system.

In order to prevent massive negative effects on the economy, and also to prevent a 1930s depression-style situation, governments intervened and bailed out the distressed assets. More →

The S&P 500 is constantly ascending to new highs, but there are plenty of stocks setting new lows.

Today, we’ll discuss how to approach such a situation from a behavioral and technical perspective.

The 10 rules that follow will help you increase your batting average.

Introduction

Despite the fact that the S&P 500 has only been going up lately, there are many companies that have had a terrible time, especially if you look at retail stocks. But this opens the door for a very interesting investing strategy of trying to buy stocks at their bottom after a price drop or more simps, to “catch a falling knife.”

In today’s article, we’ll discuss this strategy in depth, discuss a few current stock examples, and come to a conclusion about whether we should even apply such a strategy. More →

In investing, having a strong tailwind is perhaps more important than picking the right stocks.

Finding good stocks in emerging markets isn’t that difficult, and plenty of them trade on U.S. exchanges.

It all boils down to fundamentals. Rebalance accordingly between developed and emerging markets.

Introduction

I’ve talked a lot about investing in emerging markets, but I’ve never assessed emerging markets from an holistic perspective.

Today, you’ll read everything you need to know about investing in emerging markets. It’s extremely important to know why to invest in emerging markets, and then to understand the best way how to do so because not every investment in emerging markets is going to do well. More →

I’ll first describe what’s going on with earnings as 55% of companies have reported. We’ll discuss insurance a bit more.

A helicopter view shows that the S&P 500 averages have a large distribution.

I’ll conclude with some inconsistencies everyone should be aware of when listening to Wall Street and earnings.

Introduction

55% of S&P 500 companies have now reported earnings, and it’s always nice to check those aggregate earnings to see how the market is breathing.

I‘ll show you the data from the current earnings, which are very interesting, but I’ll also show you the difference between what Wall Street is painting and reality. Let’s start with current earnings. More →